


Mystify Me

by shield_maiden



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:22:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1535747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shield_maiden/pseuds/shield_maiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katniss works at a local arts & culture magazine, Johanna is in a band. This is the tale of their meeting and how their lives entwine. Originally posted to my fandom tumblr crimson-petrichor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Katniss Everdeen stood on the middle of the art gallery, camera at her hip. Her green eyes taking in the details and swirling colours of the painting in front of her. This gallery was brand new, tonight was their opening night, and she had scored invites through her work at ‘The Seam.’ A local Arts, music and culture magazine, where she was kind of a jill-of-all-trades, she wrote articles, took photographs, reviewed things and sometimes interviewed people. She was here with her boss-slash-friend Gale, but they had become separated somewhere along the line. He was most likely talking to friends, Katniss knew having been to plenty of these events with him in their two years of friendship.

Stopping a passing waiter she picked up a flute of champagne, sipping it leisurely as she looked around her. The gallery itself wasn’t too remarkable, a small narrow space with high ceilings, wooden floors and white walls that were made impossibly whiter by the fluorescent lights trained on each of the works. The main pieces were canvases by a local artist, who’s name Katniss recognised but had never actually met. She shifted in place, the balls of her feet were beginning to ache. It didn’t matter how long she spent in heels, her feet always got sore. Reaching for her camera she uncapped the lens and snapped a few shots of other guests mingling, it would be useful for the events page later.

Finally she spotted Gale talking with a half dozen or so people, and catching his eye she smiled and made her way over to stand with them and be introduced. After shaking hands and muttered pleasantries and answering the odd question about her work and if she liked the pieces (She did, a rather stuffy old couple did not.) she felt like someone was watching her. Looking around her, her eyes fell immediately on a woman, her dark hair cut into a choppy bob, just brushing her shoulders. She offered her a small smile and turned back to the conversation.

Ten minutes later she nudged Gale with an elbow, the other woman had been moving through the gallery, seemingly looking at the works, but every so often Katniss swore she’d seen her glance over at her, her expression completely unreadable.

“Gale,” She muttered. “The woman in the skinny jeans behind us, who is she?”

Gale looked over his shoulder and smiled. “That’s Johanna Mason, I thought you knew her?” He frowned at Katniss but continued before she could answer. “Here, I’ll introduce you.”

Before Katniss can protest he’s snagged her by the elbow and she has no choice but to follow him. And then their in front of her and she has no choice but to smile as she’s introduced to the other woman who smirks at her like she’s some tasty morsel to eat.

Johanna and Gale chat away amicably talking about work at the magazine, and Johanna’s work, from what Katniss gathers she’s in a band of some description and that surprises her, not so much because she didn’t think Johanna would be in a band, but more because she hadn’t seen her around before.

Eventually Gale excuses himself and goes to mingle with some other guests he hasn’t spoken too yet and Johanna turns to Katniss, her lopsided smirk returning. And Katniss feels like a deer caught in headlights, she’s entirely disarmed and it’s not a particularly nice feeling. Johanna makes a comment about her outfit, really just a red dress, nothing spectacular. Her blush is still receding down her neck when the tall leggy blonde staunters over to them and drapes herself over Johnanna, interrupting their conversation to kiss Johanna deeply. Katniss wrinkled her nose, PDA, ew. Having seen enough, she offers a feeble ‘good-bye’ and ‘nice to meet you’ before going to find Gale and asking him to take her home.

* * *

 

Johanna finally gains enough leverage to push the blonde off her, quickly looking around for any sign of Gale’s cute friend who had been intriguing her all night. Not finding her anywhere she turned back to the blonde and glared fiercely. “Seriously, Gloss? What the fuck was that?” she hissed, her hands balling up into fists by her side. She could punch or slap the other woman, but that would be classed as making a scene and Finnick would never shut up if she did. So she just huffed and pushed past the pouting blonde, through the crowd and out onto the street.

It was cooler outside now, the sky above her head was inky black and dotted with hundreds of tiny stars. If she wasn’t so pissed off, Johanna would have found the sight calming, but instead she just started walking down the street. After a few blocks she stopped in front of a bar and pushed the door open. Stalking over to the bar she perched on a stool and waited for the bar tender to notice her.

Finnick placed a glass of beer infront of a regular and grinned, bantering easily with the customer as he wiped a rag over the bench. Turning away he spotted a very familiar face at the other end of the bar and grinned brightly. “Hey Joh!” He crowed happily as he came over to her. But his smile faded as he took in the set of her jaw and the anger in the eyes. Immediately he reached under the bar and grabbed a bottle of her favourite beer and placed it in front of her with a dull clink.

“You going to sit there and glare at your beer all night, Mason?” He asked as he leant against the bar, angling his head downwards so he could actually see her face. “What happened?” He asked with a sigh.

Johanna just sipped her beer, arching an eyebrow at him when he continued to look at her expectantly. With a roll of her eyes she put the bottle down on the counter and glared at him, expecting him to scurry off. She sighed wearily when he remained rooted to the spot.

“Fine, you know that gallery opening thing? I went, and there was this fucking girl there.” She grumbled. “This stupid fucking girl with these huge green eyes. And then it all went to shit, because fucking Gloss doesn’t understand that I’m not her girlfriend.” She huffed bitterly.

Chancing a glance up at Finnick she saw that he was attempting to muffle laughter behind his hand, his shoulders shaking with the effort. “Fuck you, you prick.” She exclaimed with a grin as she reached across the bar to smack him on the arm. “It’s not funny!”

Finnick only laughed harder, his hand falling away from his mouth as he braced himself against the bar. “I’m sorry Joh,” he panted as he tried to get his breath back. “But it’s sort of karma or some shit.” He said with a shrug. Glancing at the clock on the wall he grinned. “My shift ends in ten, walk me home through the mean streets of Philadelphia?”

Johanna snorted “Yeah, Finnick, because you totally need a girl to protect you.” She sighed and shook her head fondly. “But yeah, I’ll walk with you.”

Twenty minutes later they parted ways in front of Finnick’s place, Johanna lost in thought for the rest of the walk to her building. She showered and dressed for bed without taking notice of what she was doing. Laying down on her bed she stared up at the white ceiling, her mind full of green eyed girls in red dresses and she prayed silently for sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU, Katniss works at a local arts & culture magazine, Johanna is in a band. This is the tale of their meeting and how their lives entwine. In this chapter; Finnick & Johanna are being bros. Gale is playing cupid.

The only way to describe Johanna’s mood the next day was horrid. She’d had maybe four hours of broken sleep when at around four a.m she decided to write it off as a lost cause and get up. Scrubbing a hand wearily over her face she groaned, that stupid woman would just not get out of her head. They’d barely said two words to each other the whole night, so why had she left such an impression on her?

A few hours later, when it was acceptable for normal people to be awake, Johanna was sat at her tiny kitchen table, brooding over her second coffee. She had just sent a text to Finnick asking him to come rescue her from her own mind, and her left hand idly spun her phone around in circles as she waited for a reply.

Finally her phone buzzed and she snatched it up off the table. Finnick said he would be over in 30 to kick her ass at COD.

‘Yeah. Right.’ Johanna thought rolling her eyes. ‘That’s about as likely as the fucking Easter bunny being real.’

Exactly thirty minutes later Finnick knocked on her door and Johanna pulled herself off the couch to let him in. One good thing about Finnick was that he was always on time. You could set your watch to him if you wanted to. That and if she sweet talked him he would sometimes give her free drinks, and hey, it worked.

A few hours into their COD marathon they had paused the game for a snack break, on the coffee table between them sat two beers and a huge plate of nacho’s with plenty of cheese. Swallowing his mouthful of food Finnick looked at Johanna seriously.

“Not that I don’t enjoy the endless destruction of Call of Duty with you, but why am I here?” He asked, the look on his face telling her that he was genuinely curious.

Attempting to buy herself some time Johanna took a healthy swig from her beer. Setting the bottle back on the table she frowned, unable to find the words to explain herself accurately. Picking at the hem of her t-shirt she sighed.

“I guess my head is just a mess today, I can’t stop thinking about that girl Gale was with last night.” She shrugged “I needed a distraction to stop myself going crazy. And you’re the best I could think of.”

Finnick nodded slowly, it wasn’t often that Johanna was like this, hell, he couldn’t remember ever hearing her talk like this. If there’s one thing Johanna doesn’t do, its get hung up on a girl.

“Have you tried Gale?” He asked. She shook her head

“I have a feeling he wouldn’t give me her details anyway.” She shrugged “He’s witnessed one too many scandals of mine to trust me. And she probably has some super manly boyfriend.”

Finnick sighed. “True.” He frowned and took a swig of his beer. “If it makes you feel any better there’s this super cute new barrista at starbucks named Peeta who has the most amazing smile and I don’t think he’s even a bit gay.” He said nudging her in the side with a lopsided grin as he picked up the Xbox controller again and hitting resume.

Picking up her controller Johanna shoved him back. “Okay, enough sappy shit about people we can’t have. Let’s do this shit. But only until 6. I have that gig tonight, remember?”

* * *

 

Katniss’ day was much like any other work day, she’d dragged herself out of bed at 6:30am, showered, dressed, and headed out into the kitchen of the apartment she shared with her room mate Peeta Mellark. She sighed happily as she saw that her aforementioned house mate already had a hot cup of coffee waiting for her on the island bench, the mug weighting down a note written in his now familiar chicken scratch saying he wouldn’t be home until late.

Crumpling the note she pitched it into the trash can before turning her attention to the fridge and breakfast options. ‘Blueberry bagels. Yes. Those.’ She thought to herself before grabbing one out and splitting it in half with a knife and putting it in the toaster. Humming softly to herself as she waited for the toaster to pop, she went over today’s proposed tasks in her head.

Ten minutes later after consuming her coffee and buttery-blueberry-bagel goodness she bounced out the front door and off to work. She jammed her hands as deep into her coat pockets as possible. She’d forgotten her gloves again, damn it. Gale would not be impressed if she had to wait ten minutes to start working because her fingers needed to defrost first. But she’d already walked too far to go back for them, so frozen fingers it was.

Reaching the building that housed their offices Katniss pulled the door open with a huff. The lobby of the building was pretty much like any other. There were potted plants dotted around and chairs that looked comfier than they were. Offering a small wave to the security guard Mr. Abernathy she poked impatiently at the elevator button until the doors opened. A quick trip to the fourth floor and then down the hall to their offices. It was surprisingly spacious actually, clean and modern. And just a great place to work, there was always music playing. Dropping her bag on her desk Katniss turned on her mac and waited for it to boot up. Walking into the small kitchen she found Gale fighting with the coffee machine.

“Again? Really Gale?” She rolled her eyes and elbowed him out of the way. “We literally have the simplest coffee machine in history, and I’ve explained to you like a hundred times how to use it, but you still can’t do it?” Placing a cup under the spout she pressed the button, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Good morning to you too, Katnip.” Gale said, his shoulders shaking with laughter. He couldn’t help it if she looked like a pissed off kitten. It was hilarious anyway. “Thanks for the coffee.” He said, taking the mug from the machine and walked back out to his desk.

He’d seen Johanna eyeing Katniss last night, and the fact that Katniss had seemingly noticed too was strange. The girl was oblivious 90% of the time to other people, especially when they were interested in her.  But things hadn’t gone well, a few minutes after leaving the two of them alone hoping they would make conversation last night, Katniss had tugged gently on his elbow asking him if they could leave, her eyes flicking over her shoulder briefly. When he’d followed her gaze he saw Johanna push a tall blonde off her and seemingly exchange heated words. Katniss had looked at him so imploringly that he had agreed to take her home. This morning she seemed to be her usual self, drinking coffee like a fish and singing along to the music coming from his docked iPod.

But it was a completely wasted opportunity if you asked Gale. They were both gay and if you asked him there were definite sparks, even if Katniss was oblivious as all hell. He needed to come up with a plan, because sue him but he wanted to live vicariously through his friends-slash-employee. He could give one of them the others number but that wouldn’t be very fun.

Opening his email he tapped his fingers against the desk in a steady rhythm, frown lines creasing his forehead as he tried to come up with something. Then he saw it, in his inbox. A gig reminder that Johanna’s band ‘Cosmic Incidence’ was playing that night. Perfect. He could send Katniss there under the guise of a gig review and hopefully nudge the two of them together.

“Hey, Katnip. Fancy going to a gig tonight?” He asked hoping his tone was neutral and continuing when she perked up and looked over at him. “Starts at 8, band’s called Cosmic Incident. It would probably be a good one for next issues review section.”

Katniss shrugged, it sounded pretty good to her, and if she was going there for work that meant she could get Gale to reimburse her the entry fee. “Sure, I’ll be there.” She gave a small smile and a thumbs up before turning back to the photos she was editing from the previous night.

Gale grinned and gave himself a mental pat on the back. Operation set-up-katniss was a-go. Now he just had to hope everything went smoothly. 


	3. Chapter 3

It was 7:50pm by the time Katniss got inside the venue. Traffic had been horrendous and the line outside the bar was around the corner, but it was one of the more popular night spots in the city, and tonight’s line up boasted a number of local bands, most of whom Katniss had at least heard of if not already seen live numerous times. Of the ones she hadn’t heard of or seen was the one Gale was talking about her writing a review for the magazine, and the only piece of information the venue had was their name, ‘Cosmic Incidence’ and time slot written in chalk on the wall by the bar.

Gale was here with her, he’d headed to the bar almost as soon as they’d arrived, nodding silently to her when she jerked her head towards one of the high tables a few metres back from the stage. Sliding onto one of the stools  she placed her bag on the other, reserving it for Gale. Tapping her fingers against the polished table top she looked around, taking in the other patrons and catching snippets of conversations here and there.

Suddenly a drink was placed infront of her on a coaster and she turned to find Gale next to her, a beer in his hand. Mouthing a ‘thank you’ over the buzz of conversation she moved her bag from the other stool to let him sit down.

As she took a sip of her Gin and Tonic, the MC for the evening jogged out on stage and introduced Cosmic Incidence to a raucous round of cheers from the crowd. Katniss found herself thinking they must be quite popular with the crowd that usually hung out here, either that or they had a bigger following than she thought and she was living under a rock.

The band walked onto the stage single file, Cosmic Incidence was made up of two girls and two guys, Katniss only got a good look at the first girl and the guys before the crowd in front of their table blocked her view. The last girl looked like she was the guitarist, if the positions the other members had moved to on the stage was any indication. Out of the corner of her eye she was aware of Gale watching her, turning to look at him she raised an eyebrow. “What?” She asked, shouting to be heard over the intro of the first song. All she got in return was a shrug and a smirk. Shaking her head she turned back to the stage.

* * *

 

Johanna was buzzing with adrenaline when she stepped on stage grinning widely. Walking over to the left side of the stage she picked up her guitar gently, slipping the strap over her head. The shouts of the crowd were muted slightly by her earpieces. The weight of the guitar settled gently over her shoulder, her fingers deftly doing a last minute tune up, her pick between her lips.

She hears Blight strike up the drum beat to their opening track and she pulls the pick out of her mouth, ready to go. She catches Thresh’s eye as he steps up to the mic and when he nods she launches into her opening riff.

The set goes well, but it usually does, the four of them (Clove plays Bass) get along well and match each others intensity to a tee. By the end, Johanna is sweating slightly, she can feel her loose tank sticking damply to her back and her hair is plastered to her neck. As the last song winds up she grins at Thresh and slaps him a high five as the crowd cheers and claps them off the stage.

Quickly she runs a towel through her hair, hoping it soaks up most of the sweat but the strands still clump together wetly against her cheek. ‘Guess I’m rocking the sweaty hair look then.’ She thought with a shrug as she followed her band mates out into the bar. Thresh is immediately swamped by girls, all flirting ridiculously with him, even Clove has a few dudes following her around like a bunch of puppies.

Johanna understands she intimidates people, she’s not all warm and fuzzy. She doesn’t really want to be either, at least not for just anyone. So she’s pretty okay with tonight’s lack of groupies, a few friends come and congratulate her on the set and she banters with them for a few minutes before slinking off to the bar.

She’s half way there when she spots Gale sitting at a table, talking to someone. His eyes find her over the woman’s shoulder and she swore she saw a mischievous glint in them. Then she finds out why. The woman he’s speaking to turns and follows his gaze, and Johanna immediately feels like she’s had the wind knocked out of her. It was the same girl from the gallery.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a filler chapter I suppose? IDK

Katniss feels the blood drain from her face, uneasiness settling into the pit of her stomach. Johanna Mason is standing in front of her just staring. Now with the other woman in front of her it’s easy to recognise her as the guitarist from Cosmic Incident and frankly Katniss feels slightly stupid for not putting two and two together. It feels like minutes pass and she turns back to Gale, and he’s grinning at them both expectantly. Suddenly Katniss feels trapped, she can’t breathe and her heart is hammering in her chest. It’s too hot, too loud, just too much.

Snatching up her bag she elbows her way through the crowd to the exit. A scathing glare at Gale was enough to glue him to his seat. Outside the air is crisp and cold, Katniss’s ragged breaths form clouds of mist in front of her as she tries to orientate herself through her panic. It’s still too loud near the door of the bar so she ventures down the street until it fades and she slips into an alcove that holds a shop front.

Sliding to the ground she tugs her knees to her chest and tries to breathe evenly. Her hands are shaking so she folds them into her chest as well and leans back into the glass door she’s sitting against. Eventually she feels the vice grip around her chest begin to loosen, and she sighs tiredly letting her eyes slide shut.

If she wanted to she could probably spend hours analysing why the sight of Johanna Mason had pushed her into a panic attack. But truthfully Katniss isn’t sure she’d like the answer. If anyone asks her she’ll just claim it was a shock and she left because she was angry at Gale and that’s it. Lifting her head she opens her eyes again and jumps in surprise. At some point Gale had come and found her. He’s leaning against the wall in front of her and she glares up at him.

“Sorry, but you were gone for about twenty minutes.” He says, crouching down to her level. “Are you okay? I really didn’t think you’d freak out like that Kat.” He sighs and touches her ankle briefly.

“I think so.” She says, rolling her shoulders back and biting her lip. Katniss wants to ask him why he suggested this or didn’t warn her. But before she can form the words he’s talking again and answering her questions before she’s even asked them.

“There’s probably no good way to explain this. But Kat, you deserve to be happy, and Johanna is exactly your type.” Katniss is about to deny that but he quickly keeps talking, cutting her off.

“And I’ve known Johanna for years and I’ve never seen her look at someone that way ever, even when she knows them. But she looks at you that way and you’ve barely said two words to each other.” He sighed and continued.

“She wants to get to know you, and before you ask, yes she said that. Just go to dinner with her once. If you still don’t like her that’s fine.”

Katniss is aware she’s staring at him. She’s about to protest but instead just looks at him suspiciously. Truth be told going out with the other woman didn’t sound that bad, and well, Johanna Mason was certainly interesting to her. 

“Fine.” She sighs.

“Are we done? Can I go home now?” She asks, the words coming out sharper than she intends. But she thinks Gale understands judging by the soft smile he gives her as he helps her to her feet. And they walk to his car in easy silence.

The drive back to her house is infinitely shorter than the walk from it had been. Katniss spends it watching the lights of the city whiz past her out the passenger window and deliberately trying not to think too much. When he drops her at the house he passes her a slip of paper with the name Johanna and a number on it in unfamiliar scrawl.

“Thanks, Gale.” She smiles tiredly as she slips the paper into her bag.

“No worries, Katnip.” He grins boyishly at her. “Don’t worry about writing a review.” 

She nods and fiddles with her house keys, waving at him as he pulls out of the driveway. Letting herself inside she makes her way to her room and is asleep the minute her head hits the pillow.


End file.
